It was forecast to be big Tuesday a couple of days ago - Doug Charko, the USA Team AlphaGraphics weather man told us on Sunday it would be 15-20 knots and gusting 25 - and so it was, with 49ers, Stars and Finns all sent back to the harbour early, and the SKUD-18's not racing at all. Unfortunately for Doug, when the fleet was greeted with a flat calm this morning, he wound back his weather forecast a few notches.

It was the French that nailed it on the second day of Skandia Sail for Gold 2010, with glittering, stand-out performances in three classes. Probably the most remarkable, given the conditions, were the two bullets that Manu Dyen and Stéphane Christidis added to the three second places that they scored yesterday. They now lead the 49er class by seven points from Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from New Zealand.

We asked Stephane Christidis what their secret was... "It's funny because we have been competing against each other for the last 15 years, and then we decided to start working together and it was a great decision. We're feeling really good at the moment, we're working well on the water and we were glad to have two weeks ahead of this event based in Weymouth for some training. We had a chance to understand the courses and conditions and get a better understanding of the event."

"The speed of the boat is really good and we're pleased with our performance so far. Of course there is always a little bit of luck out there. It's good to start the week well, we want to show the French Sailing Federation that we can get good results and we are looking for a podium finish at this event. The competition is tough here in Weymouth, the Kiwis are doing really well and are a team to watch, as are the Australians so we have to keep working hard. We've had a great start but nothing is done yet. This is a very important event for us, there are many, many teams here who are all looking to perform, so we need to stay focused and really concentrate at this event, I hope we can keep it up."

The second members of France's golden trio were the 470 duo of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos, who also scored double bullets today, and added them to a first and third from yesterday to lead World Champions, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS) by eight points. Almost as dominant was Jonathan Lobert (FRA) in the Finn class, adding another second place to the first and second that he scored yesterday. It puts him 17 points clear of Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma in second - not bad after just three races.

Jonathan Lobert said afterwards, "Today it was ok, overall I'm still leading but it was tough out there today. I've been training really hard this year and I think it is starting to pay off, I've been training with my team mate Thomas [Le Breton], which is great, and I think we're doing a good job out there."Ben Ainslie (GBR) will probably be grateful that someone else is getting the attention, so he can get on with his comeback quietly - which is why we had to mention him; Ainslie was 12th today and now lies sixth overall.

Elsewhere, the Kiwi Star pairing of Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk - winners of both of yesterday's races - slipped from their pedestal a little with a ninth today, but still lead overall from European champions Johannes Polgar and Markus Koy (GER).

The Dutch Sonar team of Udo Hessels, Marcel van der Veen and Mischa Rossen followed up two bullets with a second and a third, and now lead the British team of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stevie Thomas by just three points.

Also slipping a little were Marit Bouwmeester (NED) and Veronika Fenclová (CZE) in the Laser Radial - both girls winning their two races yesterday - today Bouwmeester won another, and then got a seventh in the final race, while Fenclova only managed a fifth and an eighth. Bouwmeester now leads Fenclova by four points.

Another two races were sailed in the Women's 470 division and the Japanese Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata have taken the lead with consistent results of two fifths to take a narrow lead over current World Champions Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED). Current SWC standings leaders Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux of France are third.
Petitjean explains, "The first race for us was good, we had moderate wind and then conditions increased during the race, then there was a big change in the second race today as the wind increased a lot. For us the second race wasn't as good. We didn't have the best start and had to play catch up so as a result we lost a few places which is frustrating, but we are still in the game."

A second and a fourth was enough for the current Olympic champion, Paul Goodison (GBR) to take a narrow lead in the Laser fleet after two more races sailed today, relegating day one leader Andrew Murdoch (NZL) to second. Former double world champion Tom Slingsby (AUS) relished the blustery conditions to score two bullets and jump up to fourth overall.

The RS:X boards were really flying out on race course B in he harbour. Three sailors share the lead in the Men's RS:X fleet, Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED), Nick Dempsey (GBR) and João Rodrigues (POR). In the Women's RS:X fleet, defending Skandia Sail for Gold champion and current Sailing World Cup standings leader, Blanca Manchon (ESP) has taken an early controlling position in the RS:X Women's fleet from Charline Picon (FRA) in second.

The 24 Women's Match Racing teams have had a long hard day on the water, the race committee managed to get some flights finished early in the day when the wind was relatively light. It then dropped too much and the fleet was sent ashore only to be recalled to race late into the evening in strong breezes of 20-25 knots with gusts even stronger. The top teams are starting to show their strength and yet again it is the French team that are showing the way. Claire Leroy has a 7-0 score whilst Anne Claire Anne-Claire Le Berre has a 4-0 scoreline. Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) are also yet to drop a match so far in the preliminary rounds.

Paralympic Classes
Even in the inner harbour courses the gusty conditions and chop on the race course provided testing conditions for the 21 boat 2.4mR class. After four races Damien Seguin of France and Thierry Schmitter (NED) are locked in battle with identical race results. The Skuds did not complete any further races today so the current results remain the same

NB: Results are subject to outstanding protests and are therefore provisional.

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Four boats in the Volvo Ocean Race celebrated rounding the venerated landmark of Cape Horn on Monday, a pleasure cruelly denied Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) after the Chinese boat's mast was broken early in a dramatic day on Leg 5.

The wind played dirty tricks all day in Palma on the sailors and race committees who had to juggle with big shifts and different pressure. From 4 to 20 knots, and reaching 40 in some gusts, the wind turned around the bay playing with everybody's nerves.

Ghosting across the line in the inky blackness of a Mediterranean spring night, finally slicing through the finish line set on the very waters where some 40 odd years ago he cut his teeth as a young, aspiring sailor harbouring great dreams, at 01:47:00hrs local time Guillermo Altadill and his talented, ever reliable Chilean co-skipper Jose Muñoz secured second placed in this third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the round the world race for two crew which left the Catalan capital on December 31st 2014.

Algoa Bay brought lighter conditions on Sunday, and after a postponement waiting for the wind to settle, the race got underway in 7 knots of breeze from the south-east. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines from the USA were the pathfinders, and opened up the gate for the fleet as they sailed out to the right-hand side of the course.